Relatively Avenged
by 23dae5dal03ist
Summary: Jack Starbright and Alex Rider are forced to take refuge with Jack's cousin, the infamous Tony Stark. What could go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own the Alex Rider nor do I own the Avengers.**

**Scorpia Rising never occurred. **

* * *

><p>*New York*<p>

The airport was cold. Inhuman even. Futuristic chrome accents framed windows with the occasional statue of liberty tile mural in between. Despite being only 5 AM, the building bustled with people, mostly tourists. Sightseers shamelessly decked out out in bright polo shirts and khaki pants crowded the large glass windows as if trying to reconcile the gigantic urban sprawl ahead of them with the pictures in their guidebooks. Most were disappointed.

At the other end of the spectrum, grim New Yorkers dressed in black, clutched luggage with white-knuckle grips. Happy to be home or happy to leave, Alex did not know.

Alex was on edge. He had been to New York before, once when he was recruited by the CIA in a mission which ended with him trying to kill a madman in zero gravity when he was fourteen, and several other times on the behalf of various agencies. Some would say that the skyscrapers were picturesque, but instead they only made him ache for the comforting presence of Chelsea. He tried not to think about MI6. Thankfully, this wasn't a mission.

"Ready?"

He turned and smiled at his surrogate sister. The red-headed twenty-seven year old seemed to vibrate with nervous excitement. He was just glad the CIA hadn't accosted him this time.

_*flashback*_

Though he hated the missions themselves, Alex loved coming back from them. Jack always baked his favorite foods,those that could be made in under ten minutes anyway, and they would stay up into godforsaken hours of the morning watching movies while eating junk food and guzzling energy drinks.

Whenever he tried to thank her, though, she would alway become slightly teary and tell him that if he liked it so much then he should come home earlier. Alex didn't have the heart to tell her it didn't work that way. Though he suspected she already knew it anyway.

The next day they would have a quick breakfast, something she could make within fifteen minutes. And after that, Alex would spend the day slaving away at homework for his tutor, courtesy of MI6 as he was unable to continue school. Meanwhile, Jack would clean the house and stock up on groceries.

...

But this time it was different.

Even if he hadn't been home in over two months he knew something was wrong when the the wooden chair that he always sat in collapsed under his weight. Alex had blushed while Jack merrily teased him about going on a diet.

Though inwardly ill at ease, Alex let Jack grab another chair from the attic. Meanwhile, Alex mooched her tea and sat in her chair. It wasn't until he heard a blood curdling scream and a crash that he snatched one of the guns around the house, this one being in the fridge, and ran to investigate.

The cause wasn't obvious at first. She had dropped the chair hastily he could tell, but she didn't seem hurt. Nor did there seem to be any assassins, kidnappers, or terrorists around the perimeter.

"You okay, Jack?"

She pointed toward the chair muttering something about bugs. Huge, shiny black ants scurried about, some beginning to explore the wood topped chair was already crawling with them.

Jack squeaked as Alex slowly set the gun aside before pulling her up. "Let's call the exterminators."

. . .

"Yeah, you've got a nasty carpenter ant problem." A burly man in a blue jumpsuit with a name tag advertising 'Dave' said while bringing out a clipboard and a ballpoint pen. "It'll take the company about thirty days to take care of the problem and repair any damage they caused. Hopefully, you've got a place to stay because we'll start the process tomorrow. Best get those little buggers before they have the next generation. Pack everything you need because there's no going back once the house is sealed."

Jack thanked the man before he could climb into his white truck.

"So what are we going to do?" Alex asked once she returned. His best friend, Tom Harris was in Italy with his brother. MI6 would grudgingly provide shelter, he knew, but even he shuddered at the thought of some of their safe houses. Besides, they weren't above exploiting the situation in their favor. No that wouldn't do-

His surrogate sister interrupted before his thoughts could turn to darker paths, "There is someone who has enough room for us both and would be accommodating." She went on, "Though we haven't actually seen each other in years."

"Who is it?" Alex mentally catalogued her family members, hoping it wasn't some sort of serial killer.

"I'm sure you've heard of Tony Stark. We're technically second cousins on my mother's side, though we always called each other cousins."

Alex grimaced. He had, after all, heard of the millionaire. Who hadn't?

A genius with an ego the size of Greenland and a bank account the size of Asia, the spy had seen him at various functions throughout the years. And though Alex would concede that the man knew how to create a good weapon most of them, unfortunately, ended up being pointed at him.

Lately, though, the man had been going into clean energy as well as becoming a part-time superhero.

Although he knew was childish, Alex couldn't help, but think his work was hugely underappreciated in comparison. After all, the man was applauded for stopping a bad guy who got the blueprints to his suit while Alex had saved the world multiple times from disease to nuclear war and anything in between, but all he got was an offer of a peppermint from Tulip.

. . .

Thankfully, Mr. Stark was ecstatic to see his cousin again and promptly promised them both a room in his new tower as well as free tickets from London to New York in first class since Jack didn't feel comfortable enough with his generosity to take the private jet.

Jack packed enough clothes to last two months into two large, pink monstrosities she had borrowed from their neighbors. Alex left messages for Tom and the bank, not that they would need it. They probably already knew about the infestation and his trip to New York.

Then, with none of the enthusiasm that Jack had, he stuffed two carry on bags, one with guns covered by dress clothes that he was gifted with by various means through MI6 and the other with Smither's gadgets and casual clothes. Neither would get picked up by airport scanners.

_*End Flashback*_

"Jackie," The well-known, goateed man greeted them with his arms wide. Alex smirked. After all, he knew from experience that Jack hated being called Jackie. The man, Tony Stark, seemed to realize this as well from the way he was rubbing his arm where Jack had punched him.

"I told you to never call me that," Jack hissed, glancing at Alex as if daring him to use that dreaded noun.

The man, Tony Stark, was probably trying to go incognito when greeting them. Alex thought it did rather the opposite and instead drew odd looks from those who were also around the baggage claim. With a bedraggled bleached blonde wig, a purple plaid shirt topped off with an ugly green sweater over combat pants that even the SAS sergeant would've demanded to be burnt and scuffed sneakers he looked as if he had held up a couple of hobos.

Mr. Stark seemed to have noticed Alex at last. "And who is this?" He continued before Alex could answer, "I always wanted to be an uncle. Pepper doesn't think I'm uncle material though." Tony's tone turned accusing, "No wonder you've never answered any of my calls. Strange that it was always you who harped on using protection," He teased and winked at Jack.

Both travelers spluttered.

Alex choked and Jack's face quickly matched her hair, but before either could offer an alternate explanation Tony had enveloped Alex in an uncomfortable hug. "Come on. There's no secrets between family, right. Call me Tony, Uncle makes me feel old."

Jack struggled to hold in her laughter. Alex's face burned with embarrassment. He pushed down the lump in his throat that the word 'uncle' brought on as memories of Ian suffocated his thoughts.

Jack had finally gotten over her giggles to exclaim, "God no!" She explained in quieter terms after the gawking of curious travelers finally died down. "I take care of Alex most of the time even though we have no biological relation." It was softer than the truth in which he was an orphan whose guardians were MI6 and the whole reason she still lived with him was for blackmail purposes. Not that Jack knew the latter. For that Alex was grateful.

Though he gave no obvious indication of surprise Alex could tell he had been put off balance, but quickly recovered. "Still, kid, call me Tony." They had begun walking toward one of the VIP exits where a black helicopter was idling.

"Please don't tell me you've been pointlessly burning fossil fuels for no reason for the past hour," Jack ground out.

"Its environment friendly."The man defended.

Jack looked at him for a minute before he conceded. "I'm working on it"

Tony then spoke more seriously "So. . . ants?" Tony turned to Alex who grunted in affirmation. Amazing what a summer vacation spent in an SAS camp could do. Tony continued, "Did they eat through your house or something."

"No," Jack cut in, "but we still need to leave the place for a little under a month before the repairs are finished."

"Well, lucky you. You two will get to be the first to test out the accommodations of the STARK tower." He mused, "I was actually thinking of inviting you for Christmas." There he looked pointedly at Jack, "That is, if you had time." Alex felt he was missing something. He hated it.

. . .

The helicopter ride was fairly decent by Alex's standards, definitely better than most of the ones used by MI6. Those being either extremely noisy ones for the military, or med-evacs that he was too close to unconsciousness to really pay attention to.

"You see this helicopter," the man had removed the wig and purple flannel to reveal a black t-shirt advertising some AC/DC concert from a year ago, "Every component was designed and created by STARK industries." His voice took on a proud edge. "Most of what we work on now is clean energy."

"Well Tony, it has been quite a while since we last saw each other face to face. I remember you telling me once that there was no market for clean energy."

Tony instantly lost any trace of seriousness and smiled goofily. "You just wait. I'll make a market for it." The man seemed to act more like a little kid than any CEO that Alex had met. He wasn't exactly sure if this was a good thing.

"Yeah, no kidding. It's been, what, a billion years since we last spoke." Tony turned to the sixteen-year-old again. "So how'd you get stuck with my cous-I mean how did you two meet?" He once again rubbed where Jack's fist had hit him, "Geeze woman so violent."

Alex ignored the others distress, "My uncle needed someone to take care of the house when he was away and Jack needed a place to stay. She's family now." Technically, it was the truth. He just 'forgot' to mention his uncle was a dead MI6 spy and Jack was the only family he had left.

Tony nodded solemnly before changing the subject with an lecherous grin. "Any new men in your life, Jack? I promise I won't scare them off." He smirked, "much."

Predictably Jack flushed. "Oh I think that job has been taken by someone else." She glared at Alex who tried to look innocent. Neither passenger believed his facade.

He held up a hand for a fist bump, "Good to see somebody watching out for my favorite cousin." Tony ignored Jack's call that she could look after herself just fine.

"Landing in five minutes sir", a smooth American accented voice sounded over the flight intercom.

"Isn't she a beauty," Tony crowed as they approached the tower helipad. And in the morning glow with the new sun reflecting off the windows, perhaps she was.

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><p><strong>Updates will be slow in coming, but please let me know what you think of this and what you would like to see in the coming chapters.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello, my name is Virginia Potts, feel free to call me Pepper." A thin redhead shook the hands of both travelers while smiling enthusiastically. By the callouses on her fingers, Alex could tell that she spent the majority of her day working by phone or computer. A secretary then.

"Tony?" Jack questioned.

The secretary nodded, then continued, "I feel as if I already know you, Tony speaks of you all the time."

"Nothing bad, I hope."

Pepper shook her head. "No, though from Tony's descriptions I always imagined you as some sort of goddess to put up with him."

"Yeah, those were the days," Jack trailed off and seemed to be remembering a time long past. She recollected herself. "This is Alex, I've been watching him since he was seven." She tried to ruffle his hair, but he dodged at the last second, leaving her hand hanging. "He's practically family."

The secretary seemed to just notice their bags and motioned for the two to follow her. "The STARK tower, or Avengers tower as the public are calling it, was bought two years ago. Although Mr. Stark has other homes both in America and abroad, Tony seems to favor this one for any long term stays he has in New York. Of its sixty floors, twenty are used by the management sector of STARK industries. The rest have been renovated into mainly guest rooms and labs. Residents of the tower include myself- when I'm in New York- Tony, and Dr. Bruce Banner who is a permanent resident when he isn't traveling."

"Who?" Jack asked, not recalling Tony mentioning another resident.

"You might know him better as the Hulk. It would be best if you don't annoy him, though he has become tolerant of Tony somehow."

Jack nodded in understanding, completely at ease with the fact that the man below could kill all three them easily if he became irritated. Alex shuddered.

"Tony doesn't like having cleaning personnel living in the tower. Instead, we have a contract with a local cleaning service that we trust to clean the tower once a week top to bottom, along with the well used areas like our lobby every morning and after large events. They have to show photo ID before they can be let in."

Alex gave a nod in silent recognition of the man's apparent forethought. After all, the teen had lost count of all the occasions in which he had infiltrated an event or some business under the guise of being part of a cleaning crew.

They came to two rooms side by side along the hallway. "And these will be your rooms for the duration of your stay. Both are equipped with everything you should need, but if we forgot something just call out and JARVIS will take care of it."

"JARVIS?"

"That would be me," a mechanized voice intoned. Jack jumped several inches as Alex tensed.

"Sorry about that, JARVIS is Tony's A.I. system," Pepper explained patiently. "His butler, if you will."

The spy wondered why the accent was British of all things.

...

Already unpacked, Alex watched Jack unpack with mounting amusement as she tried to stuff her two extra large suitcases into a closet.

He stepped in to help her before the woman began swearing.

"Thanks, Alex." She smiled, though it fell into a grimace. After living with her for several years, he could tell when the American felt stressed. "So what do you think of Tony?"

The spy had to think for a moment before answering. "Chaotic." Alex tried to put the question that teased him incessantly into words. "Why am I just now hearing about him?"

"Yeah, that's Tony." She replied to his earlier statement with some amusement. "He was always a little whirlwind growing up. We were best friends once, but after he graduated from high school and got his acceptance letter to MIT we both had a shift in priorities." Jack sat on the luxurious bed, looking down at her ragged cuticles. Alex sat down beside her. "He was always on the cutting edge of things, diving off into new adventures. Me, I could barely use a toaster." She looked at him sadly. "I just couldn't keep up. So I moved to Britain and continued my schooling, taking a housekeeping position on the side. Never did I imagine that I would stay to take care of a little urchin like you."

The spy tried to look comforting, but felt rather ill at ease. She was biting her nails. Jack only did that when she was nervous or not telling the whole truth. The spy would bet his life savings that there was more to the story than what Jack told him. He did not push her, though. Experience had taught the teen that it was best to be patient and draw information out slowly than to spook the one he was interrogating.

…

Tony bounced into the state of the art lab singing, "Honey, I'm home!"

The brunette barely caught his test tube before taking three deep breaths. He slowly turned around. "Tony, don't do that. You could've ruined the experiment and I would've had to start all over."

"Aww. Come on, Brucie. What's life without a little adventure?"

Bruce grinned wryly, setting down the test tube and removing a latex glove. "Normal. I don't think you want the other guy to come out quite so soon after our last repairs." He glanced at a massive crack in the ceiling which was covered in plaster.

Tony pouted, but conceded his companion's point

"Don't antagonize Bruce, Tony," Pepper came up behind him, kissing the billionaire on the cheek. "I believe the repairmen are getting suspicious after having to come out here every week."

"They didn't come here last week," Tony pointed out childishly.

"That's because I haven't called them yet."

Bruce had the grace to look slightly sheepish. "Where are Natasha and Clint?"

Pepper opened her mouth, but Tony beat her to it. "The Spider and Legolas won't be in until next week. It's apparently 'classified.'" He said this with air quotations. As if Fury's lackeys could keep him out when he practically built all of their equipment. "I know they're chasing down leads in Italy, specifically near Venice at the moment. I sent Clint an email to pick up some olives for us."

Pepper rolled her eyes and changed the subject. "What should we do about your cousin?"

"You have a cousin?" Bruce couldn't keep the wonder and slight nervousness from leaking into his voice.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Tony asked defensively.

Bruce and Pepper exchanged looks then shrugged. "They were never mentioned in the tabloids."

"You actually read that junk?" To prove his point, Tony had JARVIS pull up the cover of that day's most popular gossip column on one of the lab screens. Its title read, TANYA STARK, IS IRON MAN REALLY A WOMAN? A FORMER LOVER SPEAKS OUT.

"I think we might have noticed by now if you were a woman," Pepper spoke wryly

"Anyways," Tony changed the topic rather quickly. "Jack's side of the family was always careful to not get caught in the tabloids. I figured that I would take the two to see the sights. Alex has probably never been out of the country before and my precious Jack has been corrupted by those horrible Brits who drive on the wrong side of the road."

Bruce seemed faintly amused. "Should we take them to the wrestling match?"

"Nah," Tony waved it off. "Most girls don't like that sort of thing."

"Alex can stay home with Pepper."

Tony grinned. "No, you misinterpreted me. Jack is a woman and Alex is a sixteen-year-old boy."

There was a moment of awkward silence as Bruce digested that fact. "You seem oddly considerate of her." The unspoken 'Why?' hovered in the air like a nasty odor. Tony had rarely, if ever, considered another's feelings or preferences, often putting himself above them in terms of importance.

Tony sobered. "Jack practically raised me when I was a kid. She was the only one who actually had time for me." Bruce moved to protest, but Tony held up a hand. "Howard was too obsessed stalking the whereabouts of his precious Capsicle to care about his only son and Maria felt she had already done her duty of giving birth to an heir, leaving me with an army of nannies."

"If you two were so close, why is she living in Britain?"

"It's complicated," Tony mumbled. "Jack decided that she didn't want to hang out with her geeky cousin and I realized that I liked machines more than people. At least they wouldn't leave." The last part was whispered, but his companions heard it all the same.

All three fell silent.

"Shall we have pizza or burgers?"

Tony smiled at Pepper gratefully as Bruce decided the meal.

…

"So...tell me about yourself, Alex. You're seventeen, right?" It was surprisingly Dr. Banner who broke the carefully cultivated silence permeating from the dinner table that evening.

Alex grunted in affirmation while trying to finish the pizza slice.

"I remember when I was that age," Tony mused with a lecherous grin. "Those were good times."

Not about to subject the others to Tony's brand of weirdness, Bruce addressed Alex once more. "I wanted to become a chemist, but it wasn't until I was in college that I began gravitating towards radiation studies."

He ignored Tony's "Thank goodness."

"What about you? What do you want to do with your life? "

The spy felt Jack's fish eyed stare. "I don't know. I'll probably become a banker like my uncle-"

"Boring," Tony drawled. "You'll never find excitement in a job like that. I'll tell you what. I'll send you to college, any college, and when you're done you can come back and work for me. What do you say, kid?"

"Tony," Pepper chastised. "Maybe Alex wants to be a banker. Not everyone can handle the stress of saving the world."

Alex choked down a laugh, but disguised it as a cough when Bruce glanced at him. "No, I suppose many people couldn't cope with being forced to save the world."

Tony looked disgruntled. "Who said anything about being forced? Celebrities like me save innocent citizens all the time from living in a world with no beauty. I know this because we have a plaque somewhere in the tower. Show them Bruce."

The doctor rolled his eyes, stating, "That plaque was for saving the people of New York, not for appearing in a shampoo commercial."

"Hey. I think the aliens were more distracted by Thor's hair flipping than his actual fighting. I want to know what the big guy uses for conditioner."

"Admitting you're less than perfect, Tony?" Jack grinned.

His reply was quick. "No, I'm just telling you what I've been asked."

"I don't know," Pepper smiled. "You sounded a little jealous."

"I am not jealous," The inventor frowned petulantly.

…

It was later that evening when Alex walked by Jack's room that he heard muffled sobbing. He opened the door. "Why are you crying?"

She gazed at him with red-rimmed eyes. "Why must you do this to me, Alex? Why do you want to become a spy?"

"Someone has to do it." Alex defended himself. This argument had occurred several times before.

"You don't have to." Jack smiled. "We're in America. I can get Tony to hide us where MI6 will never look."

"If I don't spy for them, MI6 will just find another lackey."

"Why do you do this?" The red head cried. Her fingers caught one of his arms, making him wince as she pressed down on a painful bruise. "You're destroying yourself. You'll end up dead in a ditch before your twenty-fifth birthday or leaving others behind like your uncle did."

"I do this for you." Alex retorted, jet lag taking away his filter. He backtracked when he saw her expression. "I don't care what happens to myself. If you were hurt or killed when I could have prevented it, I would never forgive myself."

"Alex-"

The spy jerked his arm out of her grip. "Get some sleep, Jack. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day if Tony has any say over it," he tried to joke while ignoring her hurt expression.


End file.
